Tag: Coat Wall

It’s been awhile since I promised the tutorial on how I did my board and batten coat wall so here it is…finally. Things have been pretty hectic in our household. I am still working on the kitchen island project and getting more and more done everyday.

I am also wrapping up Ashley’s “new” makeup vanity, working on a countertop for the kitchen, and putting together a art room table for my sister in law.

To add to this list, we are also putting together some ideas for our toy room and a loft bed for one of our daughters. Live is good but life is busy!

If you remember back, this is how our entry looked originally and except for a new coat of paint on the walls, pretty much how we bought the house.

The original “dated” look

I used SketchUp to get a general idea of how I wanted it to look. I find its also easier for me to show Ashley my ideas this way rather than trying to explain it with simple drawings. This tool is awesome and free!

Sketchup Drawing

It’s always a good idea to have a helper on a big project like this. Luckily I have one that is always willing to lend a hand.

Our first step was to replace the trim around the door. This part was actually highlighted in this post and was the crucial first step before I could go on with the coat wall.

Next up was a trip to the home improvement store to get an idea of what we wanted and to price out the material. Using precut mdf would have been easier but also a lot more expensive.

So instead I bought a few pieces of 2’x4′ mdf sheets and decided to cut them manually.

My cutting technique was far from perfect and it took far too long. I used as straight of a board as I could and then proceeded to measure and clamp it for every cut I needed.

I used my new Black & Decker Matrix for this job. The small circular saw went through this wood like a hot knife through butter.

The wood has been cut and is ready for finishing.

To help the edges from getting that rough feel, I proceeded to use spackling paste along each edge. It was a long and tedious process but the end result was great.

First up was to remove the old chair rail and bottom molding pieces. Then the cross pieces went up. I used liquid nails and my trusty air compressor and nailer.

After the cross pieces were in place, I proceeded to nail up the vertical pieces and then the top shelf and moldings. I got lucky and most of the vertical pieces landed on a stud but one I ended up having to use liquid nails and tape.

A coat of oil based primer and then some paint and this project was complete.

It’s done! It took awhile to complete as our schedules are really crazy right now but it’s done and we are very happy with how it turned out. I will be writing up a full tutorial as time permits but for now, I just wanted to get this out there for all to enjoy. 🙂